The 2015 World Congress of Dermatology (WCD) in Vancouver will feature the inaugural Global Celebration Forum, an initiative to highlight established Canadian and international experts in dermatology, as well as “rising stars.”
Each morning from June 8 to 13, 2015 the WCD’s Global Celebration Forum will host presentations on a variety of topics—including pediatric dermatology, skin cancer, aesthetic dermatology, women’s diseases, therapeutics, dermatological surgery, and more, according to committee chair Dr. Vince Bertucci.
“We thought
[the Global Celebration Forum] would be a great opportunity for us as Canadians to contribute to the World Congress of Dermatology meeting and allow us to put our stamp on the meeting and to show some of the unique things that [Canadian dermatologists] are able to do,” Dr. Bert
ucci, medical director of Bertucci MedSpa in Woodbridge, Ont., told Derm.city.
“What we are going to do during that time is highlight global stars. [Each of the different sessions] will have both a Canadian chair and an international co-chair,” said Dr. Bertucci. Each session will feature a Canadian keynote speaker, an international keynote speaker, and a rising star in dermatology.
The planning committee is most excited about inviting the Canadian or international rising stars to present, according to Dr. Bertucci, since the sessions will provide up-and-coming dermatologists with an opportunity for development and growth.
Ushering in new era of dermatologists
“I think we all go to meetings and the podium is sometimes dominated by people who are well known and all amazing speakers, but we want to give an opportunity to the rising stars—the people who are going to be the future of dermatology—to get up on the podium and show us and tell us about their expertise,” said Dr. Bertucci.
“It will be [a way to] usher in the new era or the next generation of great dermatologists who are going to be at the forefront of our field. It is an opportunity to foster talent,” he said.
The other key component is that each session will have a lectureship named after a prominent past or present dermatologist. The committee enlisted the help of Dr. Robert Jackson of Ottawa—a historian for the Canadian Dermatology Association—and delved through the archives of Canadian dermatology to select dermatologists who have made significant contributions to the field on a national and global level. The committee members also sought input from colleagues to determine how the candidates were viewed by their peers.
“We are hoping to put together little details about who these individuals are. We are hoping that our international colleagues will come [to the sessions to] learn about our Canadian colleagues and our former Canadian colleagues who have passed on,” said Dr. Bertucci.
Dermatologists demonstrating enthusiasm about WCD
Those who have been asked to participate h
ave been quite keen so far, noted Dr. Bertucci. He said there has been lots of excitement from the keynote speakers regarding the Global Celebration Forum, but also from dermatologists about the WCD in general
“The whole World Congress of Dermatology is a great initiative. It is basically a forum for the greatest dermatologists from around the world to come and share their expertise and their knowledge and to share with colleagues from around the world. [It demonstrates] how multi-faceted dermatology is and how there are such great things going on in all corners of the world,” said Dr. Bertucci.